Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika

The peer-reviewed scientific and technology journal. ISSN: 0204-3327

Minor Actinides Transmutation in Pressurized Water Reactors. 1. Multiple Recycling of Minor Actinides on the Example of One VVER Reactor

9/23/2021 2021 - #03 Fuel cycle and nuclear waste management

Kazansky Y.A. Karpovich G.V.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2021.3.05

UDC: 621.039.516.4

This article explores the possibilities and conditions of combustion in a pressurized water reactor of its own accumulated minor actinides (MA). The simplest computational model is used: an infinitely extended medium with the distribution and composition of all materials of the fuel assembly of the reactor core, similar to VVER&1200, with uranium dioxide having an initial 235U enrichment of 4.95%. The burnup model is presented in the form of iterations, each of which simulates a fuel campaign lasting 4 years without refueling. At the start of the cycle, special fuel rods are loaded with minor actinides extracted from the reprocessed SNF of the VVER&1200 reactor. After the end of the fuel campaign, all the MAs are removed from the SNF and used in a new iteration.

As a result of calculations, it was found that the MA mass in the cycle after 3–7 iterations (depending on the number of fuel elements allocated for the placement and accumulation of MAs) tends to an equilibrium state (regardless of the MAs added every 4 years). In other words, the fuel rods allocated for loading MAs play the role of a kind of furnace, into which, in each iteration, MAs from the previous iteration accumulated in the given reactor are loaded. After several iterations, the burned MA mass converted into fission products is compared with the incoming one. The inclusion of MAs in this way into the fuel cycle converts at least 86% of MAs into fission products without affecting the power generation of the nuclear power plant. It is important that MAs are temporarily unloaded from the reactor after the next iteration in order to remove fission products and to add a new portion of MAs. After stopping the reactor operation, about 16% of the total amount of MAs generated for the entire history of the reactor’s life is discharged into the storage facility. The initial fuel composition in the fuel rods allocated for loading MAs differs from the others only in the amount of MAs and the mass of 238U. The simplified computational model used in this work (without annual overloads of the reactor) influenced the burnup depth and, naturally, the duration of operation, i.e., the k∞ value becomes less than 1 after 1056 days instead of the actual 1460 days with annual fuel overloads. This affected the average fuel composition and, consequently, the neutron spectrum, and could affect the main result of the work, i.e., the number of burned&out MAs in different iterations. Additional calculations, taking into account the annual overloads of the reactor, showed that the change in the spectral composition had little effect on the amount of MAs at the end of the fuel campaign (within 2%). It turned out that the replacement of 238U with minor actinides in fuel rods, the number of which is less than 10, leads to a loss of reactivity. When the number of fuel rods for loading MAs is more than 10, the reactivity increases, giving hope for burning up MAs accumulated in several reactors.

References

  1. Kolobashkin V. V., Rubtsov P.M., Ruzhansky P.A., Sidorenko V.D. Radiation Characteristics of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel. Handbook. Moscow. Energoatomizdat Publ., 1983, 382 p. (in Russian).
  2. Use of Fast Reactors for Actinides Transmutation. Proc. of the Specialists Meeting held in Obninsk, Russian Federation, Oct. 22324, 1992. IAEA3TECDOC3693. IAEA, 1993, 128 p.
  3. Shmelev A.N., Kulikov G.G., Apse V.A., Glebov V.B., Tsurikov D.F., Morozov A.G. Radiowaste transmutation in nuclear reactors. IAEA3TECHDOC3693. IAEA, 1993, pp. 77-86.
  4. Kazansky Yu.A., Dudkin A.N., Klinov D.A. Temporary behavior of nuclear waste activity under different scenarios of fuel use. Collection of Scientific Papers of the Reactor Construction Department «Methods and Tools for Modeling Physical Processes in Nuclear Power Plants». Obninsk. IATE Publ.,1993, 114 p. (in Russian).
  5. KazanskyYu.A., Dudkin A.N., Klinov D.A. Transmutation: Fashion or Necessity? Izvestia Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zawedeniy. Yadernaya Energetika. 1993, no. 1, pp. 65-69 (in Russian).
  6. Slesarev I.S., Salvatores M., Uematsu M. Possibility of Transmutation in Existing and Prospective Nuclear Power Systems. Izvestia Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zawedeniy. Yadernaya Energetika. 1994, no. 1, pp. 22-29 (in Russian).
  7. Adamov E.O., Ganev I.Kh., Lopatkin A.N., Muratov V.G., Orlov V.V. The Degree of Approach to the Radiation Equivalence of High-Level Waste and Natural Uranium in the Fuel Cycle of Nuclear Power. Atomnaya Energiya. 1996, v. 81. iss. 6, pp. 403-409 (in Russian).
  8. Kazansky Yu.A., Klinov D.A. Efficiency of Transmutation of Fission Products. Izvestia Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zawedeniy. Yadernaya Energetika. 2000, no. 4, pp. 38-46 (in Russian).
  9. Ganev I.Kh., Lopatkin A.I., Orlov V.V. Homogeneous Transmutation of Am, Cm, Np in the Core of a BREST-type Reactor. Atomnaya Energiya. 2000, v. 89, iss. 5, pp. 355-361 (in Russian).
  10. Ganev I.Kh., Lopatkin A.I., Orlov V.V. Heterogeneous Transmutation of Am, Cm, Np in the Core of a BREST-type Reactor. Atomnaya Energiya. 2000, v. 89, iss. 5, pp. 362-365 (in Russian).
  11. Bergelson B.R., Gerasimov A.S., Tikhomirov G.V. Transmutation of Long-Lived Actinides in Power Reactors. Atomnaya Energiya. 2003, v. 95, iss. 4, pp. 295-301 (in Russian).
  12. Bergelson B.R., Belonog V.V., Gerasimov A.S., Tikhomirov G.V. Utilization of Np, Am, Cm in a Power Reactor. Atomnaya Energiya. 2009, v.107, iss. 2, pp. 82-86 (in Russian).
  13. Khorasanov G.L., Blokhin A.I. Burnout of minor actinides in fast neutron spectra. Izvestia Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zawedeniy. Yadernaya Energetika. 2013, no. 3, pp. 96-103; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2013.3.12 (in Russian).
  14. Kazansky Yu.A., Romanov M.I. Transmutation of small actinides in the spectrum of a thermal neutron reactor. Izvestia Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zawedeniy. Yadernaya Energetika. 2014, no. 2, pp.140-148; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2014.2.15 (in Russian).
  15. Wenchao Hu, Bin Liu, Xiaoping Ouyang, Jing Tu, Fang Liu, Liming Huang, Juan Fu, Haiyan Meng. Minor Actinide Transmutation on PWR Burnable Poison Rods. Annals of Nuclear Energy. 2005, no. 77, pp. 74-82; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2014.10.036 .
  16. Kazansky Yu.A., Ivanov N.V., Romanov M.I. Results of Transmutation of Small Actinides in the Neutron Spectrum of Thermal and Fast Neutron Reactors. Izvestia Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zawedeniy. Yadernaya Energetika. 2016, no. 2, pp. 77-84 (in Russian).
  17. Washington J., King J. Optimization of Plutonium and Minor Actinide Transmutation in an AP1000 Fuel Assembly via a Genetic Search Algorithm. Nuclear Engineering and Design. 2017, no. 311, pp. 199-212; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2016.11.030 .
  18. Ivanov N.V., Kazansky Yu.A., Karpovich G.W. Results of Transmutation of Fission Products in the Neutron Spectrum of Thermal and Fast Reactors. Izvestia Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zawedeniy. Yadernaya Energetika. 2017, no. 2, pp. 118-125; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2017.2.11 (in Russian).
  19. Wenchao Hu, Jianping Jing, Jinsheng Bi, Chuanqi Zhao, Bin Liu, Xiaoping Ouyang. Minor Actinides Transmutation on Pressurized Water Reactor Burnable Poison Rods. Annals of Nuclear Energy. 2017, no.110, pp. 222-229; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2017.06.039 .
  20. Korobeynikov V.V., Kolesov V.V., Karazhelevskaya Yu.B., Terekhova A.M. Investigation of the Possibility of Burning and Transmutation of 241Am in a Reactor with Americium Fuel. Izvestia Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zawedeniy. Yadernaya Energetika. 2019, no. 2, pp. 153-163 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2019.2.13 (in Russian).
  21. Faghihi F., Roosta F., Ghaemi S. Bagheri S. Core Designing of the Newly Proposed (U+Gd)O2FAs in the VVERs Core and Comparison with Current UO2FAs. Alexandria Engineering Journal. 2019, no. 58, pp. 647-658; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2019.03.010 .
  22. Leppaanen J. SERPENT – a Continuous Energy Monte Carlo Reactor Physics Burnup Calculation Code. User’s Manual. Espoo. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 2015,164 p.
  23. Leppaanen J., Viitanen T. Cross Section Libraries for SERPENT 1.1.7. Espoo. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 2013, 58 p

VVER minor actinides neptunium americium curium transmutation nuclear fuel burnup closed fuel cycle

Link for citing the article: Kazansky Y.A., Karpovich G.V. Minor Actinides Transmutation in Pressurized Water Reactors. 1. Multiple Recycling of Minor Actinides on the Example of One VVER Reactor. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2021, no. 3, pp. 58-71; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2021.3.05 (in Russian).

Open PDF file